She kept a brisk pace despite the enticing lull of the early morning. I jogged to keep up with her, my breath uneven, as she crossed the slushy quad and cut behind the International Studies building. On the building’s opposite side, I thought I’d lost her, then caught sight of her blue-and-silver Waverly duffel bag already halfway across the dormitory lawn. The lawn lacked places to hide, so I slowed my pace and let her energetic gate increase the distance between us. However, instead of going up the steps to her dormitory building, Lauren glanced to either side and ducked into the alleyway between her dorm and the next.
A crisp breeze whisked my hair back, chilling my neck, as I trailed along after Lauren. She’d disappeared from view again, but from what I could see, there was no side door that led inside the dormitory. Confused, I turned back, wondering if I had somehow missed her.
“Hey!”
A firm hand closed around my upper arm, its grip so tense that I could feel the pressure from each of its five fingers even through my thick winter coat. The hand spun me around, and its owner cornered me against the brick wall of the dormitory. Lauren’s friendly demeanor had vanished, and she regarded me with a deep scowl.
“Why are you following me?” she demanded, her cheeks flushed from either the bitter weather or anger.
“I… I wasn’t,” I said, but the waver in my tone indicated otherwise.
“Bullshit,” said Lauren. She jerked her head toward the bus stop. “I noticed you as soon as I got off the shuttle. You really don’t know how to keep your head down, do you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She let go of my arm and released a sigh. “You’re an idiot. I know who you are, Nicole, and they do too.”
“Who?”
“The Black Raptor Society.”
She answered so promptly and with such nonchalance that it forced me to take a step back. For a moment, I considered making a run for it, no matter how fruitless my efforts would be in comparison to that of Lauren’s highly trained muscles.
“Relax,” Lauren said, noticing how my entire body had tensed. “I figured it was only a matter of time before you sought me out. What do you want to know?”
That threw me for a loop. “Wait, what?”
“Everyone else thinks you won’t get anywhere with whatever limited information you have,” Lauren went on, rubbing her hands together as another chill swept through the alley. “But I’m not stupid. I know how effective a determined woman can be.”
“I’m confused,” I admitted. “Shouldn’t you be reporting me to your father? I mean, you literally caught me stalking you. I know about the things that you’ve done for BRS.”
“Then you know that I was arrested with Donovan Davenport last semester? And that it was me who tampered with his grades?”
I hesitated before giving her a curt nod.
She chewed on the inside of her cheek, which seemed like a strange acceptance of responsibility for her actions. “Listen. Messing with Jo Mitchell’s records was the last thing I ever did for BRS. I saw how it affected her. It was awful. I told my dad that I didn’t want to be involved with BRS anymore.”
“How did he react?”
She scoffed, scuffing the heel of her designer boot against the slushy ground. “BRS is blood in, blood out. Metaphorically, at least. My father agreed to give me a break, but he expects me to continue my membership with the society. Believe me, I’ve tried to swear them off.”
“Do you know what happened to George O’Connor?” I asked, dreading the answer. Although after ambushing Lauren, I wasn’t sure I deserved one.
“Who?”
“Professor George O’Connor.”
“Oh, that was the guy who went missing a couple weeks ago, right? What happened to him?”
Either Lauren really didn’t know that her buddies at BRS had beaten O’Connor to death or she was a good liar.
“You really don’t know?” I asked, taking a step closer so that Lauren couldn’t avoid eye contact with me. I knew from experience that it was a whole lot harder to lie if you were forced to stare at someone while doing it.
For a second, Lauren’s expression held firm, but then her bottom lip trembled. “That was a mistake,” she whispered.
“So you do know.”
“I heard about it,” she admitted. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s the first time BRS has been responsible for that kind of thing. They have no idea what to do with him. No one outside of the society has ever gotten as far as O’Connor did, and BRS has deep enough pockets to silence anyone who’s raised questions before.”
It was a strange relief that I felt then. At least BRS didn’t make murder a habit. Even more encouraging, it sounded like the members of the society were spooked. They hadn’t found a solution to their problem yet, which would make it easier for me to find holes in whatever story they would inevitably come up with.
“Look, Nicole,” said Lauren. “I just want you to know. I never had anything to do with O’Connor. I opted out long before BRS found out what he was doing.”
“You benefited from your BRS membership in other ways,” I pointed out. “Any other student would’ve been kicked out of Waverly if they’d been busted for possession.”
Lauren nodded solemnly. “I know that.”
“It’s also hard to believe your grade point average is all your own doing, considering what I’ve found out about your BRS extracurriculars. You work in the records office, for shit’s sake.”
“You’re wrong there,” she said, shaking her head. “I never needed BRS to help with my grades. I actually like school. I work hard. It’s the same with the rowing team. BRS didn’t buy my way in. I trained hard in high school to earn a spot with Waverly.”
“Still.”
“Still,” agreed Lauren. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “Nicole, my father might lack any kind of moral compass, but I don’t. I’m done with BRS, no matter what, and you
